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Vikings trying to make London feel like home

Tom Pelissero, USA TODAY Sports
9:51 p.m. MST September 26, 2013

General view of British flags and NFL banners on Regent Street at Oxford Circus in advance of the NFL International Series game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Minnesota Vikings.(Photo: Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)

Story Highlights

The Vikings are hoping a trip to London will jumpstart their season

Playing in the international series provides a unique set of logistical issues

Some players, such as Adrian Peterson, are enjoying the relative anonymity

LONDON -- Harrison Smith rested his forehead on the seat in front of him, fighting the urge to fall asleep in the back row of the team bus.

In the previous 48 hours, the Minnesota Vikings had fallen to 0-3 with a brutal loss to the Cleveland Browns, awoken for an early workout, packed their bags, taken an overnight flight and bused directly to Wembley Stadium, where they put about 200 British schoolchildren through drills at a community event tied to Sunday's international series game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Smith, like many of his teammates, had popped an Ambien and assumed he'd be out the moment he buckled his seat belt on the airplane. But the second-year safety found himself in a "zombie-ish" state as he rode another shuttle to the team's temporary headquarters.

"I didn't realize how much (the sleep deprivation) would affect recovery from the previous game," Smith told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday afternoon, a still-fresh bruise exposed on his right biceps as the bus stopped and started toward the northern borough of Watford. "I don't care how much treatment they give us. Nothing beats sleep."

Preparations for this trip began in earnest in March, when Vikings executives traveled here to settle on lodging and practice facilities for a trip NFL teams have been making since 2007. Representatives from the team's public relations, operations and security staffs — and even its chef — made a separate trip in May.

The goal was to make this week as normal as possible, and in many ways the Vikings succeeded. But there's nothing normal about crossing six time zones to a country most players had never visited for a game that could dictate their chances for resuscitating their season.

"Some of my concerns — I won't know if we've gotten past those until we leave here," coach Leslie Frazier said. "We're always concerned when guys have downtime in an environment they're not familiar with. They're trying to sightsee and getting involved in the city and so on.

"What we do at the hotel we can control a little bit. What we do at the practice field we can control a little bit. But once they have downtime, all bets are off."

Making it feel like home

Only one member of the Vikings traveling party was on its last trip to London: equipment manager Dennis Ryan, whose primary memory of the sparsely attended 1983 exhibition against the St. Louis Cardinals is the late arrival of the team's bags because the driver stopped for breakfast.

That trip lasted two nights. This one lasts five nights and a full practice week, presenting a world of possible equipment issues Ryan — like members of every other department — tried to prepare for in advance, though in some cases there might not be much they can do.

If the kicking shoe Blair Walsh has worn since his freshman year at Georgia breaks again, for instance, he's probably out of luck. If the Vikings end up signing a player to help their ailing secondary, Ryan has material from the team's lettering shop and might have to play seamstress.

PHOTOS: NFL goes overseas

NFL titans Troy Polamalu (43) of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings met Sept. 29 as the NFL returned to London and Wembley Stadium. The Vikes outlasted the Steelers 34-27, thanks in large part to Peterson's efforts. (Photo: Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)

Steelers rookie RB Le'Veon Bell made his NFL debut in the game and vaulted into the end zone for his first professional TD in the opening quarter. Bell hit paydirt again in the third quarter. (Photo: Sang Tan, AP)

The league has been featuring its product abroad for decades and is increasing the visibility of players overseas. Vikings Jared Allen (69) and Kevin Williams (93) and Pittsburgh's Ramon Foster were among those who jetted over to the United Kingdom in July to serve as NFL ambassadors. (Photo: Lefteris Pitarakis, AP)

Big Ben poses in front of Big Ben. Yes, Roethlisberger did his share of offseason promotional work in London, including this shot in front of his namesake, to market the league. (Photo: Lefteris Pitarakis, AP)

The Jaguars and 49ers will meet in London on Oct. 27, marking the first time two games have been played there in the same season. The Jaguars will "host" a game in England each of the next four seasons as owner Shad Khan tries to expand the team's international footprint. (Photo: Lefteris Pitarakis, AP)

Six-year-old Wembley Stadium has become the NFL's primary European venue. It holds approximately 84,500 fans for American football and never fails to quickly sell out. (Photo: Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)

Before exporting regular-season contests as part of its International Series, the NFL regularly staged preseason games in England, Germany and even Japan. The league also supported a minor league called NFL Europe. (Photo: Katsumi Kasahara, AP)

The Bills have been farming out one regular-season game per season to Toronto since 2008 in a bid to expand their regional presence outside of Buffalo. Unfortunately for the Bills, they're only 1-4 in "home" games at the Rogers Centre in an event that's been met with tepid local enthusiasm and overpriced tickets. (Photo: Rick Stewart, Getty Images)

But the International Series' flagship affairs occur in London, beginning with the Dolphins-Giants matchup in 2007, which came complete with a 26-foot statue of Miami defender Jason Taylor. The game was the NFL's first regular-season foray outside North America. (Photo: Ben Stansall, Getty Images)

The Buccaneers, who are owned by the Glazer family (they also control world-famous soccer club Manchester United), were back in 2011. But they fared no better against the Bears, who won 24-18 as RB Matt Forte racked up 183 yards from scrimmage and scored one TD. (Photo: Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports)

Brady and the Pats invaded again in 2012. They faced a Rams squad that had initially agreed to play three "home" games at Wembley but later backed out given their tenuous stadium circumstances in St. Louis. (Photo: Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)

Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski stole the show in a 45-7 wipeout of the Rams, catching eight passes for 146 yards and two TDs. In his Gronk save the Queen performance, the tight end mimicked a member of the Queen's Guard after one of his scores -- or, in Gronk-speak, "That little nutcracker dude that's guarding the house. ... I like how he just sits there and stays still. It's pretty cool." (Photo: Jamie McDonald Getty Images)

It would probably be pretty cool for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to put a franchise in London as part of his legacy. However a league official recently told USA TODAY Sports there won't be a team permanently based abroad anytime soon. A London Super Bowl may be a more realistic possibility in the short term. (Photo: Richard Mackson, USA TODAY Sports)

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A new player would need a passport, which the Vikings obtained for 179 members of the organization and kept locked in a safe until departure.

Two operations men flew in early to make their wing of The Grove hotel feel like the team's facility, from setting up coaches offices and meeting rooms to wiring American ESPN into the players lounge.

When team chef Geji McKinney first walked into the kitchen Tuesday, workers were lining up the condiments she'd shipped over. She also sent spices unavailable in the U.K. and USADA beef to make sure she could re-create her recipes and keep players eating normally.

The makeshift locker, weight and training rooms are in a hard-walled tent next to the practice field roughly 200 yards from players' rooms, much like the arrangement during training camp. Meetings, walkthroughs and practices are at the exact same time they'd be at home.

"So far, it's been as smooth as it could possibly go," general manager Rick Spielman said. "You wanted to make sure that the coaches and the players have no distractions."

A.P. = ANONYMOUS PERSON

One distraction the Vikings don't have to worry about is autograph seekers, particularly before they move to a different hotel in central London tonight.

"I love it, just being able to walk around," halfback Adrian Peterson said. "Eyes are not constantly on you or watching you or taking pictures and stuff. It feels good to not be known at times."

Even Peterson, the reigning MVP, can enjoy relative anonymity here, despite sufficient growth of the game in Europe to sell out Sunday's game and the Oct. 27 matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and San Francisco 49ers — the first doubleheader since the series began in 2007.

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No. 15 -- Arizona Cardinals at Tampa Bay Buccaneers: There's plenty of unrest for Greg Schiano's crew, as rookie QB Mike Glennon will be making his first career start. (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)

No. 8 - Cincinnati Bengals at Cleveland Browns: Andy Dalton and the Bengals surprised with a big win against the Packers, but Brian Hoyer created a bigger buzz with his Week 3 outing. (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)

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The league runs and foots the bill for international games and doesn't make money after reimbursing the "home" team for its usual revenue, said Chris Parsons, the NFL's senior vice president of international.

The investment will be more substantial this year, with two events — a block party Saturday in the famous shopping district of Regent Street and a tailgate Sunday that's open to non-ticketholders for the first time. Both are intended to promote the NFL's brand to the general public.

"It's not a profitable venture," Parsons said. "We do a very good job on the commercial side. But this is really about delighting our fans and building a new fan base and creating a footprint in the market that you can't do without investment."

The Vikings are hoping to make their own footprint. Smith traveled to four U.K. cities this spring, along with teammates Kyle Rudolph and John Sullivan, to promote the game. Defensive linemen Jared Allen and Kevin Williams made a separate visit.

The team's mascot, cheerleaders, drum line and Gjallarhorn will be at Wembley Stadium on Sunday. Alumni Randall McDaniel and Ahmad Rashad will serve as honorary captains. Video and other production elements will mirror a home game at the Metrodome.

Players, to hear team officials tell it, should be in the right frame of mind after a week more like training camp than the regular season.

"It's going to really allow us to bond as a team and really focus on football," said owner-President Mark Wilf, who paid to bring along most of the team's staff and spouses. "That's been proven the case here so far."

STAYING OUT OF TROUBLE

Allen seemed less enthused about the trip Thursday, telling reporters he felt the team bonded in camp and he'd never play for a team based in London because of the travel.

Williams was slightly more diplomatic, saying the team's focus was "pretty on point" but also bemoaning the way the travel schedule affected his usual rest.

"Some of us older guys — it takes some of us Tuesday, Wednesday to get back going when you've played a lot," Williams said. "I've been trying to stay off my feet, stay in the cold tub or do whatever I could and just try to be fresh when Sunday comes."

Other players made the roughly 45-minute trip into London to see the sights — and perhaps just to have options other than bocce, croquet, ping-pong and video games before midnight curfew.

Asked if Frazier delivered a message about handling business, Williams said, "We've been pretty much schooled on do's and don'ts while we're here. Just act in a proper manner. You don't want anyone getting stuck over here because they're in trouble or having to go see the law."

Coaches' schedules have been altered, too. The normal personnel meeting was moved up from Monday morning to Sunday night — the only time they usually get to relax.

As the "visiting" team, the Steelers had no obligations to promote the game during the week. They'll arrive this morning.

Will it all be too much to handle or bring a change of fortune for the Vikings, who desperately need to get into the win column before a bye?

"We won't really know until Sunday," Smith said. "Maybe mixing some things up as far as schedule-wise and getting us on our toes might be a shock to the system."